Oiled Chaps...are they ruined?

[IBleedOrange]

I was cutting wood yesterday and stopped to refuel and add bar oil. Well, I topped everything off and apparently was in a hurry to start cutting again and forgot to put the bar oil cap back on. :bang: Before I could get the saw started I looked down and the oil was all over the left leg of my 1 month old Labonville chaps. I quickly grabbed a pile of saw dust/chips and tried to clean the chaps. I've read in other discussions that oil will ruin the ability of the kevlar Polyester material from doing what is was designed to do, stop the chain. Did I ruin the chaps or can they be cleaned?

 

[PA Plumber]

Give Labonille a call tomorrow and see what they recommend. The tag off of mine says hand wash and line dry.

 

[clearance]

No they are not, don't worry about it, carry on. I have got oil on my chaps/pants so many times over the years.....they only need to be replaced when thier saw protection is cut or ripped.

 

[JohnH]

I say runem Mine get covered with oil

 

[logbutcher]

Get rid of them...cheap insurance !

...oil will ruin the ability of the kevlar Polyester material from doing what is was designed to do, stop the chain. Did I ruin the chaps or can they be cleaned?

Labonville will probably say to replace them. Those thosands of threads are meant to grab the chain, get pulled into the sprocket, then stop the motion of a WOT chain hopefully before going into your femoral artery. If those threads are compressed together with oil or fuel mix or sap, they won't do the job to protect your leg ( and privates opcorn: opcorn: ).
In the GOL/CPL course, the instructor took an old pair of chaps from one of the guys ( "...been using them without a problem for 12 years..."), laid them across a 20" pine butt, and sawed right through them in a second. Damn enlightening . We all got new chaps for the next session.:jawdrop:

Same for helmets: UV deteriorates the plastic after a year or two. No protection from those little dead braches that seem to come out of nowhere when dropping wood.

Listen to your mother, be safe out there.

 

[IBleedOrange]

Thanks for the replies. Just to clarify, the entire left leg of the chaps were completly covered with oil. This afternoon I sprayed them with Simple Green and hosed them off and hung outside to dry. I have a feeling logbutcher is correct, I'll be buying a new pair tomorrow. Theres $65 down the drain. I guess it's cheaper than the alternative.

 

[logbutcher]

Thank Mother

Thanks for the replies. Just to clarify, the entire left leg of the chaps were completly covered with oil. This afternoon I sprayed them with Simple Green and hosed them off and hung outside to dry. I have a feeling logbutcher is correct, I'll be buying a new pair tomorrow. Theres $65 down the drain. I guess it's cheaper than the alternative.

$65 won't buy 1 stitch....I know. I used duct tape for first aid to hold the slice on my knee in 99 . The ER med and nurse asked if I wanted the tape removed from the hairy leg fast or slow. Chose "fast":censored: . My lady and the staff were rolling on the floor laughing at the tears coming out of me . The sewing was the easy part.
The first aid kit in the chaps pocket: small roll of duct tape, Kotex pad ( yes, I know there's a difference now --pad/tampon--...don't go there again !):spam: :spam:
Congrads on a good decision IBO.

 

[clearance]

Thanks for the replies. Just to clarify, the entire left leg of the chaps were completly covered with oil. This afternoon I sprayed them with Simple Green and hosed them off and hung outside to dry. I have a feeling logbutcher is correct, I'll be buying a new pair tomorrow. Theres $65 down the drain. I guess it's cheaper than the alternative.

Labonville loves you, I am laughing. Buddy, I used to juvenile space, its a killer job, I ran my 266XP with an 18" bar and razor sharp chain into my chaps when I stumbled, it cut into the threads, they wrapped around the clutch drum, stopped the chain. I wasn't cut, my chaps had oil, fir sap and dirt all over them, like they would stand up on thier own. Why don't you wait till some of the loggers here chime in, guys that run saws day in day out for a living?

 

[Urbicide]

The first aid kit in the chaps pocket: small roll of duct tape, Kotex pad ( yes, I know there's a difference now --pad/tampon--...don't go there again !):spam: :spam:
Congrads on a good decision IBO.

Are you sure?opcorn:

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=39655

 

[smokechase II]

chaps need to be reasonably clean.

The first problem with all the chaps is none are a guarantee when facing a modern saw.
Second is that you have to properly maintain them. Your concern on the oil may well be justified. If the protective fabric, inside the chaps is bonded by bar oil/grease/dirt, that can make it easier to cut your Kevlar or ballistic nylon etc. This is counter to what you need; strands of fabric that are not cut but ones that get pulled out of the chaps and into the sprocket area.

If your chaps are newer the outer fabric, (that doesn't provide any of the protection for you - but does protect the important stuff inside), should have kept the oil out. Don't worry about a chemical reaction with oil weakening the fabric layers. {Unless you use a substance like chlorine to clean them, chlorine is very hard on Kevlar.)

I'm going to make a guess and say that the manufacturer will strongly recommend cleaning and have a specific method for just this instance.

It’s been several years for me, but most all of us have done the gas or oil cap thing. Bet the chaps’ manufacturer has seen this a few hundred times before.

Quick caveat in only a slightly miss-directed thread. We had a Hotshot two summers ago dump mixed gas all over a leg. He didn't think much of it and just gassed up, put the lid on this time, went back to work. Had a loose plug wire that sparked, went to a burn ward. Not major burns but did get a skin graft.

 

[beelsr]

Give Labonille a call tomorrow and see what they recommend. The tag off of mine says hand wash and line dry.

My pants say to tumble dry on low - to keep all the fibers all fluffed up. They're alternating layers of kevlar and poly/kevlar felt.

Different construction so different rules?

 

[logbutcher]

I Give...........

Are you sure?opcorn:

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=39655

 

[ASEMASTER]

welcome to spilled oil

we have all spilled oil or gas on our chapps I agree that you should wash them but see no reason to replace them at this time as they are so new never happen to have to see inside, but mine feel as if they have a layer of plastic just under the outer fabric to repell water and such.

 

[beowulf343]

Thanks for the replies. Just to clarify, the entire left leg of the chaps were completly covered with oil. This afternoon I sprayed them with Simple Green and hosed them off and hung outside to dry. I have a feeling logbutcher is correct, I'll be buying a new pair tomorrow. Theres $65 down the drain. I guess it's cheaper than the alternative.

Holy smokes, you're kidding me, right? A tank of oil on the leg and you are going to throw them out? Tell you what, I'll pay shipping and handling and you can send them to me, sound better then the pair I have now-they are so covered in sap, oil, and mud that you can barely tell the original color was orange. Of course, if my chaps were 12 years old I'd be a little concerned (although I have yet to see a pair of chaps worn every day last that long), but if I replaced my chaps every time they got spilled on, I'd be flat broke.

Hey, what happens to those "thousands of threads" if you spill veggie oil on them? Could this be another benefit of using veggie?

 

[IBleedOrange]

Well, I called Labonville today and take a guess what they said..........yep you guessed it, I should replace my 1 month old chaps just to be safe. Sounds like they are just covering their butts, I can not believe they would design chaps that would not be effective if they got dirty (oil, dirt, water, etc). That's the environment they are used in! :censored: I thought the outside cover was desgined to repel dirt, oil and water to protect the Kevlar and poly fibers inside. I checked the chaps today after they dried. From what I can tell the fibers do not seem to be stuck together. They seem to be just as fluffy as the right leg.

Sorry beowulf343 but I'll be keeping my chaps:jester:

 

[tocold4u2]

I was cutting wood yesterday and stopped to refuel and add bar oil. Well, I topped everything off and apparently was in a hurry to start cutting again and forgot to put the bar oil cap back on. :bang: Before I could get the saw started I looked down and the oil was all over the left leg of my 1 month old Labonville chaps. I quickly grabbed a pile of saw dust/chips and tried to clean the chaps. I've read in other discussions that oil will ruin the ability of the kevlar Polyester material from doing what is was designed to do, stop the chain. Did I ruin the chaps or can they be cleaned?

:biggrinbounce2:
they are trashed ,,,,you should send them to me so i could dispose of them properly besides i could use a pair of chaps

 

[Brushwacker]

I have to believe all chaps get plenty of oil on them in time, if you never spill a tankful on them.Before I started wearing chaps I would notice all my pants that I wore cutting wood had bar oil stains just from what flew off the bar while cutting. It would take 1 time out with the saw to permenantly stain a clean pair of pants. Thats an added benifit of wearing chaps, your pants last longer and stay cleaner.
I have Stihl ballistic nylon chaps and have never cleaned them. Anybody know the proper method?

 

[beowulf343]

I have Stihl ballistic nylon chaps and have never cleaned them. Anybody know the proper method?

Proper method? No. Usually figure that wading through creeks is enough washing for them. Winter is great-wallow through snow drifts, hang up to dry, repeat.